My dad has short term memory loss, lives alone, and smokes. He is a heavy smoker 1/2 to 3/4 pack per day.
My family and I think that he smokes for two reasons 1. He is addicted. 2. He is bored and this helps pass the time.
Due to the high cost, we are looking for a way to slow dad down a bit. We have been looking for a device like the automatic pill dispensers that we can load his cigarettes into and control remotely (app + wi-fi) how many cigarettes (per hour/day) that can be dispensed. So far we have not found anything like this but we feel that there has to be a device out there that could work.
Thanks for any help
As for the cost...can you write a number on the filters of each cigarette, like "1 of 10", "2 of 10"... up to "10 of 10 LAST ONE" ? This *may* help get around the memory issue, but maybe not. Again, there's only so much energy you should realistically be putting towards this.
My son is a smoker and lived with us until recently. When it was "time'" for him to have a cigarette he would turn from Mr. Jekyll into Monster Hyde and I'd insist I couldn't continue talking to him until he had a ciggy break. I hate that that was a thing, but it was reality. He has to want to quit on his own and I think your dad is beyond this hope.
If you feel that your father is safe to live alone despite his memory loss, really you have no control over his smoking. He isn't a cat with a food-dispenser dish. He is a person who is making a choice (a dangerous one) to smoke.
Many of us make choices that aren't necessarily good for us. I love Popeye's chicken and Whoppers. Woe the person who takes them out of my cold dead hand.
And about the smoking, I also remember the addiction. I stopped about 1,000 times before I stopped for good many decades ago. In the end this is your father's choice. Speak to him about your worries. (What are your worries? An earlier death? A more torturous death? A fire? All of the above?)
Listen to him.
My parents both smoked unfiltered cigarettes into their 80s, then quit for their own reasons. But it was by their own choice. It never would have occurred to me to tell them they cannot smoke, nor to suggest the 5 p.m. cocktail hour was over. Not my place.
Truly, at the end of life everything is taken from us one thing at a time. We should be allowed to make our own decisions for our own lives in so far as it is safe to do so.
What does your father say to you when you speak to him about limiting his smoking?
I leave him the cigs and he does not remember our conversation.
If he could smoke two less cigs per day that would be great in making them last longer.
I've seen these websites selling $25 cartons of cigs, but I am leary of buying from them for all sorts of reasons.
If he can afford to smoke then I would leave it alone. Of course it is addicting, that has been proven, the challenge is that the addition is because it causes serotonin production and that is our feel good hormone. What will you replace the cigarettes with? You can't take something that provides pleasure away without filling the void you will be creating.
Sometimes we have to let people do what they can afford to do, whether we agree or not. Buying cartons of cigarettes is the cheapest way to purchase them. Seriously consider how to let dad retain his autonomy as long as possible and do the things that he enjoys, to soon he will not have any choices so let him have them while he is still able.